I am a British Muslim. I notice a general lack of time-keeping in fulfilling one's duties in Islamic circles.

Answer

The importance of Time is adequately illustrated by the fact that Allah Ta'ala in the Qur'aan Hakeem takes an oath, "By The Time!" The disease of stealing time is universal in the Ummah of this age. Even those who are supposed to be Ulama are extremely lax, to say the least, on this issue.

Madrasah teachers, Musjid Imaams and workers in Deeni organizations who are paid salaries, think nothing of stealing time. Morally, their theft of time is in the same category as stealing money or tangible items. It is haraam for a salaried employee to attend to any of his personal duties/ work during his time of service. They are guilty of khiyaanat (abuse of Amaanat) by coming late to Mad-

rasah, finishing off early or taking days off and then collect full salary. The claim that punctuality and strict observance of time are attributes of "the white man, are downright stupid and baseless. Hadhrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thaanvi was a sterling example of observing punctuality meticulously. Those who dishonour time are generally careless in their Deeni obligations. While they strictly emulate all the haraam styles and fashions of the "white man", they refuse to adopt the good attributes of the white man, which in fact are attributes and teachings of Islam adopted by the white man. The fact is that when Allah Ta'ala wills a nation to become rulers over others, then He instills order, system and superior intelligence to them. Then we see the ruled races all following even the immorality of their masters. In this age, we must acknowledge that the "white man" is still the boss. All other nations – Arabs, Asians, Africans, Chinese, etc. – are still the serfs of the western white man. Hence they set the tune for the whole world. The brains of all non-white races remain thoroughly colonized.

Your concerns regarding the abuse of Time are correct. The salaried Ustaadhs and Imaams who abuse Time are guilty of devouring haraam by accepting full payment when they did not do full work. voluted concept of the modernists zindeeqs. The claim that this is allowed by Imaam Shaafi (rahmatullah alayh) is baseless. In fact, Imaam Shaafi's view is the narrowest on the issue of hilaal-sighting. The Shaafi' Math-hab does not accept sightings from far away places.